


It’s Called Observing

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: And follow him around a bit, But not in a creepy way, Louis likes to write about Harry, M/M, Smitten Louis, it's all professional
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-02
Updated: 2014-02-02
Packaged: 2018-01-10 21:22:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1164665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s not stalking, it’s researching. Louis is not a stalker.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. It’s Called Observing

**Author's Note:**

> I love, love, love smitten Louis

Another tally mark, which makes 20 in the past 3 days. Louis giggled softly and continued looking out the window, watching Harry stand up and brush the grass off himself. Harry looked over at the window, and Louis hid behind his notebook, the notebook full of tally marks from the past year, each marking the amount of times Harry has tripped on his own feet.  
Louis sighed and peeked over the edge of his book, noticing Harry now talking with Niall. Harry had 3 friends, Liam, Niall, and Zayn. That was 3 more than Louis, but if you counted the friends that he made up in his head, and existed on paper, than Louis out ruled most people.  
Even if most of his stories revolved around a curly headed boy with pale skin and bright green eyes, whose legs and feet were too big for his own good. The boy who had a voice like honey, rich and slow. With hands the size of Alaska, and stupid hats and shirts that shouldn’t look good, but do.  
Louis sighed and closed his book, shoving it in his messenger bag. Harry would be leaving soon, and Louis would follow him into town, but have to turn left, whereas Harry goes right. Maybe he was a bit of a stalker, but he would deny that until his very last breath. He simply called it ‘observing’ since Harry was his favorite person to write about. He could have stopped observing months ago, he has all of Harry’s habits, behaviors, and outfits down pat, but he can’t stop himself.  
So he didn’t stop. Harry was like an anchor for him, without him, Louis was pretty sure he would just disappear into his mind, and not come back out. Harry was everything Louis wanted to be. Funny, cute, outgoing, friendly, cute, tall, the list goes on. Louis sighed and picked up his bag filled with his homework that was piling up. He should have a lot more time to get good grades with the whole “no friends” thing, but Harry got in the way of everything when he moved to Doncaster last year.  
He stepped out of the library and watched Harry wave goodbye to all of his friends, before walking towards the main road. Louis stepped onto the sidewalk shortly after, matching his pace with Harry’s. After walking for a bit, Harry stopped to do the thing he does with his hair. Louis stopped too, watching the way his hair curled around his hand as he tossed it off to the side. When he lifted his head back up, he started walking again, turning to short cut through the park, just like every day.  
Louis stumbled through the hilly ground, holding back giggles from Harry tripping over tree roots and rocks. Harry huffed and kicked at a larger rock in the middle of the pathway, then screaming and falling to the ground. Louis’ eyes widened, and he hid behind the nearest tree, trying to steady his breathing. What if Harry looked back and saw him? He would be so weirded out. Louis felt like the sky was crashing down on him, and all the air in Doncaster was being sucked out of his lungs. His palms started to moisten, so he closed his eyes and slowly counted to ten. When he heard Harry stand up and wince, he had to hold back from going to check on him.  
Harry started wobbling down the path again, but Louis waited a minute before turning around and walking again. His usual car lengths away turned into a bus length away, but he could still watch. They stepped out of the park, and Louis stopped, just like always. Harry would go right, than Louis would go left, and have to wait until the next day to see him. Harry turned, and stumbled a bit, quickly steadying himself and going off down the road. Louis smiled and went his way, humming a random tune under his breath.  
The walk home was long, he still had to go through the rest of the town, plus a few back roads before he finally stood on the rickety steps of his house. When he flung the door open, he was almost knocked down with the force of two small bodies hitting his knees and shins. Louis grabbed the door frame to stop himself from falling back, he moved one hand so that he could push the twins back by their foreheads. They both giggled and stepped back a few steps.  
“Louis!” They screamed so he dropped down to his knees and pulled them into his chest.  
“You two are like small attack dogs.” He teased, ruffling Phoebe’s hair. She whined and flattened her hands down the top of her head, sticking her tongue out at Louis in the process. Louis smiled and stood back up, much to the girl’s dismay.  
“Will you come play with us Lou?” Daisy asked, pouting out her bottom lip.  
“I was thinking about going to go wr-”  
“Oh good, you’re home.” Jay said as she stuck one of her diamond studs through her ear. “I need you and the twins to go pick up Lottie and Fliss, I just got called back into work.” Jay kissed his cheek and started sliding her tennis shoes onto her feet. Louis bent down and grabbed the one she was about to put on, that was different from the one on her other foot.  
“Yeah, sure thing.” All four of them walked out of the house, but Jay got into her car, and Louis, Daisy, and Phoebe in his. The drive to the elementary and middle school wasn’t too far, nothing in Doncaster was too far from everything else. The girls bickered over what song they would listen to on the radio, the new Katy Perry song about tigers or some catchy song with lyrics that made Louis feel nausea. In the end they went with Katy Perry.  
While they sat in the parking lot, waiting for Fliss and Lottie, Louis pulled his notebook out and started writing a small drabble. As usual, Phoebe made him read it out loud, not matter how embarrassing, because she was absolutely in love with everything her brother wrote. Daisy didn’t care as much, she preferred pictures to go with the stories, and Louis couldn’t draw.

Louis could hear the bell ring faintly from his car, so he pulled around to the front of the school, they walked out quickly and Fliss got in the back with the girls, whereas Lottie opted for up front with Louis. She smiled and turned the radio off, even though the others protested.  
“So, how’s your boyfri-” Lottie started, but Louis put his hand up and muttered “He’s not my boyfriend, shut up.” Fliss giggled and Lottie gave him a knowing look. He pouted and started the drive home.  
“Oh please, he must be something. You watch him every day and write about him every night.” Lottie teased, she grinned at him as he blushed and held onto the steering wheel tighter.  
“OK Lottie, that’s enough.” Louis squeaked. He leaned over to turn the radio back on but Lottie swatted his hand away.  
“Just ask him out you shy weirdo.”  
“You don’t understand how much I can’t do that. Just drop it.” Louis pleaded, just a couple minutes away from home, where he could lock himself in his room with his laptop. Lottie huffed and sat back in her seat, but not without the full effect of crossing her arms over her chest.  
“He’s just a boy.” Lottie mumbled, and wow, she was wrong. Harry was not just a boy. He was the boy who tripped on his own feet and legs, because they were so long. He’s the boy who was friends with almost everyone. He’s the boy that went to the field outside of the library to study and kick around a football, instead of staying in the actual library.  
Louis spent the rest of the car ride thinking about Harry, and how he wasn’t just a boy, and soon they were pulled into the driveway of the house. All four of the girls tore out of the car and into the house, running straight for the kitchen. Louis laughed at the screams of ‘Mum said I could have the last muffin!’ as he trudged up the stairs. The whole upstairs was his bedroom, not that he needed that much space. He mostly used it to keep his books and notebooks.

Louis sat down at his desk as soon as he got to his room and opened one of his notebooks. Inside of this notebook he had exactly what Harry wore, on what day written down. Since Louis had first seen Harry’s choice of clothes, he was interested. One day he’d wear just normal black skinny jeans with a white v-neck, but some days he would have a plaid shirt with the sleeves cut off and tied around his head. For fucks sake, he wore a white shirt with manicured nails all over it once. Not to mention his cheetah shirt with the one waist coat.  
Louis shook his head firmly and plucked his pen up out of the jar. Today Harry had on a Green Bay Packers jersey, most people around Doncaster didn’t watch much American football. Along with the jersey he had a white shirt under it, and sinfully tight black skinny jeans, that had holes in both of the knees.  
Louis curled his pen around each of the words, pausing to make sure his choice of words is a perfect as possible. Even though no one would ever see this besides himself, he felt the need to make is the best he could. He almost wishes he could photograph every outfit Harry has ever worn, it would make this a lot easier.  
Louis furrowed his brow as he wrote, quickly before he’d forget exactly the way the jersey creased at Harry’s side. He was starting to lose himself in his writing when Lottie burst through the door with the house phone pressed to her ear. Louis jumped in his seat, causing his pen to fly to the other side of the room.  
He couldn’t help but whip around and shoot Lottie a dirty look. “What the hell do you want?” He yelled, climbing out of his chair to retrieve his flyaway pen.  
“Mum called to ask if you picked us up, and wanted to know what type of pizza she should pick up on the way home.” Lottie said back, muttered “twat” under her breath. Louis pretended not to notice, because he was in no mood to yell at her about profanities.  
“I don’t care, what she usually gets or something.” Louis grumbled while he slid back into his chair.  
“I hope she gets your least favorite now.” Lottie said. Louis did the most mature thing he could in the moment, and stuck his tongue out at her while she walked out. After she was gone he sighed and turned back to the notebook, suddenly having no motivation to write.  
So Louis got onto his laptop. Harry had tweeted something random, and posted an equally random status on Facebook. Louis smiled and continued scrolling down his feed. That was pretty much his everyday activities.

 

A couple weeks after that day Louis went to school. Nothing was out of the ordinary, until he went to his math class and found Niall sitting in the seat right next to his. Louis quickly chose another desk in the classroom, but Niall just came over and sat next to him.  
“What’s your problem with Harry mate?” Niall asked and Louis froze.  
“Um, what?” He squeaked, busying himself with pulling papers out of his binders. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He lied.  
Niall just laughed and went over to his usual desk, and shit shit shit. Louis was panicking, he felt like the room was closing up on him. They noticed him. That couldn’t happen, this couldn’t end.  
The rest of that day he spent worrying over the subject. How many times had they seen him? How long have they known? Does Harry know? What does Harry think about him? Those questions went on for a full week. A full week of Louis staying away from Harry and his friends. A full week spent locked in his room with his music on loud and all his notebooks out of sight.  
But then Louis was at his locker, and when he slammed it shut Harry was standing behind it, like in every romantic cheesy movie. Louis jumped and his eyes went wide because Harry was right there.  
“Hi.” Harry said with a huge wolfish grin that made Louis want to punch him but kiss him at the same time.

“Um, Hi?” Louis said, looking at his shoes, which were kicking at the ground. He wanted to hit himself, god, he took 4 extra English classes, why couldn’t he use his words?  
“I was just wondering if what Niall had told me was true? If it’s not I’m sorry, I was just wondering.” Harry scratched at the back of his neck and Louis wished he could disappear.  
“Well, uh, what did Niall tell you?” Words Louis, we speak with words.  
“Just that you seem to follow us around a bit, and maybe he was just joking, but after he said it I kinda noticed you around a lot, but it could have been a coincidence or something, maybe you just like to go to the library or sit at the bleachers, I don’t know, and now I’m rambling so I’ll just stop.”  
Louis could tell he was about to get a bad case of the word vomit, so he took a deep shaky breath. “I’m sorry.” He squeaked, then quickly walked away.

After that, Louis avoided the whole group of people Harry talked to. He would sit on the other side of the library, no where near the window, and he never went to the football field. Louis left the library at four, and if Harry was walking towards his house, Louis would wait until four thirty. Even after a few weeks of this went by, Louis continued to write about Harry. He knew he should stop, it’s not healthy, and it’ll only make Harry think he’s even weirder, but if he changed the name, it didn’t count, right?  
Louis frowned down at his notebook, reaching down to pull his legs closer to himself. His new seat on the other side of the library wasn’t as comfortable and worn down as his other one. Louis was coloring in the margins, nothing special, just some stick figures, when he heard someone walking towards him. Louis didn’t look up, it was probably just someone looking for a history book, since that’s where he was.  
“Ahem.” Someone said from above him. He was about to snap at whoever was there for interrupting him, even though he wasn’t really working, but when his eyes met the green ones, his tongue got stuck in the throat. Harry smiled and moved his hand in a excuse of a waving gesture. Louis couldn’t breathe, he felt like his whole chest was constricting. “Hi Louis.” Harry said softly, and Louis started shaking. He couldn’t force the words out, so he smiled but he probably looked more in pain then like a friendly greeting.  
“Haven’t seen you around.” Harry said and sat down next to Louis, even though no one invited him to. Louis tried to hum casually, but it sounded more like something dying. Harry chuckled. “I’m not going to hurt you, ya know. I actually wanted to ask you if maybe you’d like to go see a movie sometime? With me, like, on a date.” Louis is pretty sure he passed out right there, because when he came to, Harry was waving a hand in front of his face.  
“Are you OK?” Harry breathed when he noticed Louis’ eyes flutter open.  
“Yeah.” Louis muttered, shaking his head. “Did I really just pass out?” He whispered, and Harry nodded. He couldn’t help but bark out a laugh then quickly slap his hand over his mouth. Harry smiled so big that it looked like his face would split in two.  
“So, about that movie…”


	2. I Was A Creep, So Let’s Laugh About It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short, simple, with so, so much fluff.

Louis’ palms were sweating and he felt like he couldn’t breathe. Harry was kicking around the football with Niall and Liam, whereas he and Zayn were off to the sidelines, Zayn drawing and Louis writing. They did this a lot, and Louis still kept track on how many times Harry fell, but over the past year, the marks had increased, especially since Louis saw Harry a lot more now. Now, Louis was so nervous because today was the day. He had promised Harry he wouldn’t put it off anymore.  
Just last week they were cuddled in Louis’ bed, Harry on his laptop and Louis mindlessly writing, when Harry had asked him “So babe, what is it that you are always writing in the banged up notebook?” Louis’ hand had stuttered from where he was doodling a very bad drawing of a stick figure with curly hair. “Oh nothing, just some random stuff.” Louis lied and turned his face into Harry’s neck, throwing the notebook onto his nightstand. “What are you doing?”  
“Oh nothing, just some random stuff.” Harry mimed back at him, so Louis flicked him on the shoulder, where he knew a certain bruise would be resting. Harry closed his computer and shifted so that his arm was wrapped around Louis. “Please tell me what you’re writing about.” Louis shook his head.  
“It’s a secret that will follow me to the grave Styles, but maybe if you tell me what you were looking at I’ll give you a hint.”  
“Just looking at uni stuff for the future. Mum told me to start, because this is around when Gem started looking ‘look at how good your sister has been doing since that nice university accepted her! Great marks and a good job!’” Harry said the last part in a high pitched imitation of his mother’s voice, and Louis couldn’t help but giggle.  
“OK, well, your hint is,” Louis paused and hummed lightly. “Inside that notebook, are all my stories, but the stories themselves will never be shared.” Harry pouted, and Louis poked his cheek. “You’re not as pretty when you frown love.”  
“I’m always pretty.” Harry argued, and Louis shook his head.  
“No, not when you frown. When you frown you look like a frog.” Harry smacked his chest lightly, and he made a small oof noise, but it went unnoticed, because Harry started kissing it off his lips.  
After much pushing, and many persuasive kisses (and maybe some blowjobs, but who’s counting) Louis had agreed to show Harry some of the snippets of his notebook. It was today after all the lads stopped pissing around with the football, Louis was going to Harry’s. They were at the football field a lot more since Niall had made the team, and even though Harry couldn’t play for his life, and Liam was too nice to try to beat the others, Niall still acted as if they made the best team in the world and everyday was a true practice session.  
Once Harry and Liam were red faced, and Harry’s ridiculously tight jeans were grass stained, and Niall was laughing like he had heard the best joke in the world, that’s when they finally went their separate ways.  
“You’re being awfully quiet today Loubear.” Harry muttered, jutting his hip out so it bumped against Louis’. Louis shrugged and stepped closer to Harry, forcing him to wrap his arm around Louis’ shoulders. Harry bent down and scooped Louis up bridal style as if he weighed nothing. “My shy little baby.” Harry cooed, and Louis placed a hand over his mouth to stop the lovesick giggles that come out way too much.  
When they got to Harry’s house, Anne was sitting on the couch, flipping through one of the recent gossip magazines that Louis had seen his mum looking through this morning. Harry called out a ‘Hi mum, Louis’ here’ before taking them both into his room. Harry dropped Louis onto the bed, but Louis pulled him on top of him then kissed him.  
“You aren’t getting out of showing me your notebook.” Harry whispered against his lips.  
“Are you sure there isn’t anything I could do to make you change your mind.” Louis winked, but then ended up getting an eyelash in his eye, A for effort though. Harry shook his head and rolled off of Louis.  
“You promised babe, read me a bedtime story.” Louis sighed and pulled his tattered notebook out.  
“Well, remember when I used to follow you around?” What a horrible beginning, Louis thought to himself. Harry hummed so Louis cringed and continued. “I have a couple pages full of tally marks from every time you fell over your own feet, and I’ve still kept it up because your clumsiness is adorable. Also from when I used to, ya know, I have all your outfits described.” Louis hid his face into Harry’s bed and Harry barked out a laugh.  
“Really?” Louis nodded and flipped to one of the pages and quickly read out what he had written one day when Harry had worn a very nice scoop neck. Harry had laughed all throughout as Louis described all his silly stories, and the five pages filled with a description of Harry’s hair. By the time they were mostly done it was nearing nine and Louis’ cheeks hurt from laughing so much. Louis tossed the paper onto the floor by the bed. “Dinner, shall we?”

They returned from the kitchen at ten, full of pizza and various fizzy pops before Harry went back to his bed, laying his head on the pillow and followed so that he was sprawled over Harry’s torso. Harry wrapped his hands around Louis’ waist out of habit. “Thank you for reading me that, earlier, I know you didn’t want to.” He placed a very gentle kiss to the top of Louis’ head.  
“Don’t know what I was even worried about.” Louis muttered into Harry’s chest, lips moving around one of the birds on his chest. “I hope you know that I’m sleeping over. It’s dark and I refuse to walk all the way home. I could get hurt.” Harry nodded very seriously.  
“You better stay, for safety reasons.” Harry lifted his hips and pulled the covers over him and Louis, up and over their heads. “What do you want to do now sweetums?”  
“Sleep. Haven’t gotten a proper night in ages, with you texting me all the time.” Louis teased. He climbed off of Harry and slid his jeans and t-shirt off, Harry doing the same before they laid back down. “I call big spoon.” Harry nodded and got up to turn the lights off, and turn the fairy lights Louis had bought him for his birthday on. As he moved around the room, Louis teasingly wolf whistled, so Harry shook his little bum at him before laying back down into Louis’ small arms.  
“Night Lou.”

The next day, Louis put on one of Harry’s too big sweatshirts, and his jeans from the day before, and Harry wore a similar hoodie, and a pair of jeans even tighter than yesterday’s. Niall waggled his eyebrows at them when they entered the school, causing Louis to blush, and Harry to smack him. Louis realized during his fourth period that he had forgotten his notebook at Harry’s, but it was OK, because he wouldn’t need it anymore anyways.


End file.
